A chronicle of the CTA substation project on the Red Line between Loyola and Morse stations in Chicago (with occasional posts about other construction projects)

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Day 308: 1 September 2013

The end of August signals the time for me to return to the job that almost pays the bills, and so, in the past week, my attention has had to be diverted away from the far more enjoyable task of watching other people work. Unfortunately, that meant that i had little time or attention to devote to this blog beyond a few pictures of guys scaling rebar. My biggest regret is that Art, the job superintendent, very kindly and patiently explained exactly what they were doing at this point, including the names of things like the big panels in the bottom two pictures. While i was listening to him, i had the nagging thought that i should be writing things down. I didn't. So by the time i had a few free moments, i'd forgotten everything he told me. I'm sorry, Art, i will try to get back up to speed in the coming week. In the meantime, here are a few more pictures from the past week.

A system of conduits encased in rebar (and later concrete) leading into what will be the building.

Night shot: large pile of dirt that would later be carted away.

Street level:The return of the "boardwalk" -- the heavy wooden platform that the crane will rest on. The last time this was used was for one of the noisiest phases in the construction, but this time it shouldn't be as loud since the crane is going to be used to raise the large concrete forms that will become part of the substation's outer walls.

This and the next picture show the crane and the concrete forms that will be raised to a vertical position and have concrete poured between them within the next week.